Carson City jobless rate at 7.7%; statewide down to 6.2%

Nevada’s statewide unemployment rate fell to a seasonally adjusted 6.2 percent in January.

The raw rate, which compares to the state’s metropolitan reporting districts, was at 6.5 percent as the state added 7,800 jobs.

DETR Chief Economist Bill Anderson said it’s a gain of 34,000 jobs over the past 12 months with construction categories leading the way with gains of more than 10 percent over the year.

Carson City, however, suffered a slump because of contractions in both state and local government employment. State government employment fell almost 400 to 6,500 total jobs while local government employment dipped nearly 100 to 1,900 from December to January.

In addition, retail payrolls contracted by some 200 jobs and there were minor seasonal reductions in several other categories as well, in part offset by small increases in a few categories.

Overall, total unemployment in the capital increased from 6.7 to 7.7 percent with 22,700 employed in a labor force of 24,600.

The same workforce reductions following the holiday season produced a similar increase in unemployment statewide as well. December’s 6.2 percent raw rate rose to 6.5 percent. But the seasonally adjusted rate, which takes those factors into consideration, actually decreased from 6.3 to 6.2 percent. Carson finished the month with 1,893 seeking work.

Reno-Sparks suffered the same effect, reporting an increase from 5.5 percent in December to 6.2 percent in January. That increases the number of workers seeking employment there to a hair more than 14,000.

Churchill County’s rate increased from 6.4 percent in December to 7 percent in January while Douglas saw an increase of six tenths to 6.6 percent. There were 738 people jobless in the county.

The rate in Las Vegas increased from 6.2 percent to 6.5 percent. That translates to 68,024 looking for work.

The good news was most of the increases were due to seasonal layoffs.

This is also the second month in a row all Nevada counties have had single digit unemployment rates as both Lyon and Mineral counties held below that mark. Lyon finished January at 9.5 percent, Mineral at 9.4 percent.